Scrap Wolves
One of the most powerful raider gangs in the Catalonian Wasteland, Scrap Wolves rose to prominence under its current leader, Marku "The Iron Wolf". Well dug in with a commanding location, the gang represents a major threat to traders and organized settlements throughout the city. Especially if they have woman and food. History What would become one of the biggest raider gangs in the Catalonian Wasteland had a somewhat underwhelming origin. The gang started life as a juvenile street gang in Igualada, led by Joan. A local boy with a gusto for barbarian warriors like a Vikings or Goths had put together a small group largely for the purposes of toughing up other kids and stealing their goods. Most of the profits of their ‘operations’ went straight into Joan’s mouth. Initially they were considered to be little more than a nuisance and not a real threat to the town’s safety, but as Joan grew, her gang increased in power and influence. Soon the gang were engaged in standover operations, racketeering, assault and grand theft food among other things. Eventually, the security were forced to take action in order to maintain safety within the community. After a harsh crackdown, Scrap Wolves were forced to flee the community into the Catalonian Wasteland. Despite their relative inexperience, the gang managed to survive largely thanks to its leader. Joan possessed a Keen, Objective-based mindset that, Despite its focus on food or beer, was good at figuring out the best way to Achieve what she wanted. For several months the gang laid low, Moving Across the zone from location to location, hitting targets take what they needed to stay Alive. While the security was no longer chasing them, they Had to contend with other Raiders, slavers, wild animals, Insane robots and other such menaces. In June of 2244, the gang made its move. Having entered the territory of the Barrage Boys, at that point one of the larger gangs in the zone, the remnants of Scrap Wolves had spent their time carefully measuring enemies and their capabilities. Joan explained that she had chosen them as her targets for a number of reasons, but key among them was their headquarters. The town of Carme was a well-defended, fortified zone that provided the Barrage Boys with a secure base of operations for their raids. And he was going to take it. Her recon had revealed one weakness, an ancient forest path that the Barrage Boys were not aware of. Using it to infiltrate the pueblo, Scrap Wolves were able to ambush and take out the Leadership of the Barrage Boys before they knew what was going on. After forcing the survivors to surrender, Joan took control of the gang, essentially merging it into her own, much smaller operation. One thing did present an obstacle to their growth, however. For some reason, Joan took a disliking to Gerd, the leader of the Urbex Raiders Crew. While this could have been a simple feud between two different raider gangs, there were a number of matters that made it so much more than that. For starters, the two gangs didn’t even have any overlapping or even bordering territory. Rather, it seemed to be some personal matter between the two leaders that neither was willing to discuss. In recent years, Scrap Wolves suffered "natural" deaths from their old guard and promoted new leaders. The policy of looting and tribute formed by the new leader Marku "Iron Wolf". Culture The Scrap Wolves are remarkably fierce and take excessive pride in the fact that they are raiders. Whenever they perform raids all genders and ages participate, with some children being more valuable in a fight than men. Preferring to use close-range melee weapons rather than long ranged firepower, the Scrap Wolves are excellent at wild nighttime guerrilla raids favoring ambush predator tendencies instead of open gunfire or pursuit predation. Raiding. The Scrap Wolf is an impassioned, skillful, and bloodthirsty combatant. Certainly, for these atrocious warriors, raiding is the leading recreational pastime, just as, perhaps, trading or farming is for the average settler. The reasons and causes for their feared raids are endless: disputes over land and resources, quarrels over sex and slaves, a longing to enact vengeance past transgressions or death, or simply for no reason, anything can be seen as an adequate reason for a raid, and convince the leaders and raiders that it was time to bellow the war drums and enact a call to arms. Nightraids are the standard style of raidings performed by the group. It is rare for a raider to raid alone unless they have been placed under a 'bloodtrial' whereas they must perform a task alone. Tribal Marks In Scrap Wolves culture it is a tradition for the raiders to be adorned with ceremonious markings, cuts, and tattoos. Most of these tattoos are done in personal areas such as on the chest and surrounding the buttocks and thighs. For more esteemed members it is not uncommon for them to be covered chest to toe in intricate, meaningful patterns and symbolism. Because of the sacred and pure nature of these tattoo processes, it is customary for them to be performed in a center of a community surrounded by members. Oddly, the tattoo artists are prohibited from receiving tattoo and are clean-skinned, and due to the sexual nature of the locations they are castrated and undergo glossectomy. Organization. When Marku "Iron Wolf" took command of the Scrap Wolves, it adhered rigidly to the guides and provisions taught by Joan "The Old Wolf". The Wolves clung to this rule as an anchor against disorder that their own increasingly divisive and wayward character was sowing among their ranks. The discipline imposed by force was common, and summary executions on the battlefield were not uncommon. With the leadership of Marku "Iron Wolf" and the cultural influence Barbarian-wolfkin that he brought to the band, these factors quickly came to a halt. The fury that lay in the heart of the wolves was molded and disciplined by will, and that spring of savagery was channeled and directed to combat instead of left without purpose, providing a catharsis that purged the Scrap Wolves of their self destructive tendencies and unified them under the banner of the "Iron Wolf". Both the combat style adapted by Marku and the natural tendency of the Scrap Wolves for the desire to face hand in hand with their enemies soon led to a new approach, far removed from the common doctrines of the Raider and focused on tactics based on highly mobile infantry units, and although the heaviest supporting elements were preserved, These were concentrated in specialized detachments instead of being deployed in the general combat line. The Wolves were conditioned to feel an almost suicidal indifference to danger, and trained to make the most of this on the battlefield, applying their courage and might where they would be most effective: face to face with the enemy, surpassing his enemies with his tremendous speed and ferocity, both in close combat and in brutal shootings at short distances. Over time, their tactical dispositions changed to better suit this preference, leading to the creation of unique shock groups such as the Gray Executors and the Bloody Claws, that would eventually form the bulk of the infantry by the time of the Igualada Burning. Below this strategic level, the Wolf’s hosts were in turn divided into a changing range of improvised formations, well shaped for a specific mission, either strongly associated with the personal authority of a particular commander, and underneath them were a series of subcommanders, known as "Lords Wolf" or "wolf pack leaders", regardless of their theoretical rank or recognized in the standard order of battle. These forces, similar to parties of war, were practically autonomous and strongly focused on infantry, although each of them belonged to one of the Great Hosts in which the Scrap Wolves were divided. Below them, the generic term "Pack" was used to refer to any small tactical unit, either a single squadron of warriors or a small combined detachment. These provisions could be confusing for outsiders, since, for example, a Great Host could have several "Lords Wolf", whose relative superiority or command areas were by no means clear to anyone other than a Wolf. A notable factor in the Scrap Wolves was the religiosity towards the lupine figures becoming communal the presence of all kinds of canines. In the Religion of the Scrap Wolves is the figure of the Anulf, guardian of the tombs associated with death and life depicted as a great black canine lying on his stomach, probably a jackal or a wild dog, or like a man with a dog head. Some Scrap Wolves who were notoriously psychopathic or violent claimed to receive the touch of Anulf, many of these warriors were gathered to form the Black tithe herds, a corps of extermination that also specialized in almost suicidal and practically unstoppable breakthrough attacks, in which they embraced the touch of death as a lost friend. Notable Individuals |} Category:Raiders